


By The Waters of Babylon (Sequel)

by watchmestayuptill3AM



Category: By The Waters of Babylon
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23646592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchmestayuptill3AM/pseuds/watchmestayuptill3AM
Summary: Hey guys,My teacher asked us to write a sequel in quarantine for the story (By The Waters of Babylon). My teacher said that she enjoyed my story so I wanted you guys to read it too! :)I hope you like it.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	By The Waters of Babylon (Sequel)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [By The Waters of Babylon](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/582733) by Stephen Vincent Benét. 



“But we mustn't tell the truth son,” said the priest, “Sometimes it is better to cover the truth for both our sake and the people’s.” John's eyes went wide. He did not understand, “but father this is the truth! Our people must know, they can't keep living a lie!” His father shook his head, clearly disappointed that his son does not understand. “Son, do you know how we got this roof over our heads? It does not matter if it's a lie, I am a priest, son, and grandson of priests. I am the messenger of the gods. I cannot possibly lose my and my family's honor because of you. If you shall not obey me I will lock you up. Never to see the light of day again!” That is when John was grabbed by four soldiers that emerged from the doors to be forcefully escorted into his room, where he will dread his choices forever.

A week later whispers started forming on the streets about the whereabouts of the priest’s son and what had happened to him. The priest had to come up with a malicious lie, something that will make the people stop asking about him, and so that is what he did. After the Sunday holy prayers to the gods, the priest arranged a speech about his traitorous son. “it pains me to tell everyone this, but my son has gone mad. He has traveled to the castle of the gods only to return with a demon attached to him.” The crowd gasped, how could someone protected by the gods have harm done to him? He continued “I warned him too many times to change his plans about traveling to the forbidden place but he was too naive. He now tells me things only a crazy person would say, and the reason I locked him up was because of his contagious illness.”

John’s mother, who was also in the crowd, ran back to her room with tears streaming down her face. She did not know that that had happened to her son. She was devastated until her husband walked in and ran to hug her. “I am sorry I had not told you earlier I was afraid of what you would say’ She did not say anything because she already knew that her husband, the priest, can already read her mind; so she just laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed until night fell and the crickets began to chirp.

The rumors had stopped and the priest was relieved as was everyone else with the answers they had, except for John’s mother. She was heartbroken, she believed her son was being cruelly misjudged. And so at night she decided to visit him and talk to him in absolute secrecy, afraid that her husband would lock her up too, or even worse, harm her son. Every night John would tell his mother the tales of his journey, begging her to believe him, although she did by heart she was too scared to open her mind to the truth. 

Many long nights later, John realized that the truth would not be told unless someone helped him spread it and he knew the perfect man to do so, his closest friend Nepal. Nepal has always been a curious person, although John was the priest's son he would sometimes ask him dangerous and outrageous questions regarding their religion, at the end of the day John thought this was the whispers of the devil. But now John knew he was right all along and he needed Nepal’s help. John wrote his entire journey and beliefs in a journal and asked his mother to give it to his friend, and she agreed to do so. She was trembling with fear the entire time she had the notebook, afraid that her husband would hear her thoughts. That night was one of the longest nights she had ever experienced.

The next morning, the mother left the house early to deliver her son’s message to his friend, Nepal. When she finally found him and handed him the notebook and said “this is a message for you from my son. He trusts you and so you should trust in him.” Right before she left, she said, “he is entrusting you with something he knew I was too weak to do, so do not let him down.” Nepal was confused and worried about his friend but he knew that he had to help john.

He read the journal three times to make sure he was not hallucinating. He knew he was right all along: about the gods, their beliefs and how the sacred places were just a hoax. And so he made it his mission to tell some people in secret about the truth. At midnight he would sneak out of his house and into a small alleyway where people would wait for him to speak the truth. He would talk about how there were never any gods in this world and how the east was nothing scary, and when he was asked about his source of information he would say “I know a close person who went there and asked me to share the truth.” 

After nights and nights of these secret meetings, it was bound that someone would rat them out to the priest. The priest was furious and questioned how the news was leaked. He knew that it was definitely not his son because he was locked away with no way to communicate with anyone. He became afraid that his people began to stray and defy his rules and try to uncover the truth of the east.

The priest announced an emergency meeting asking all the village to attend it for him to speak about what he had learned. When most of the village gathered he spoke “Today, I have heard a very concerning rumor that has been circling around. Meetings have been held right under our noses trying to deceive people of their beliefs.” He stopped for a second to watch the crowds' reactions then continued “They are trying to break us away from the rightful way into the light. You may be wondering who is behind those sinful lies. Nepal Blossom and his friend group!” the crowd began murmuring and spitting on his name. Many shouted، “BURN THEM!” and others “BRING THEM TO JUSTICE!” The priest lifted his hand to silence the crowd, and continued, “The gods and I have decided the only right way to punish them is to throw them in a pit and burn them to ash.” The crowd began to cheer but there was an honest man there in the crowd that ran all the way to Nepal to warn him of his fate.

The village marched to Nepal’s home ready to burn him, so he had to act fast. He tried gathering his most important items that would aid him to survive and asked the honest man to warn his friends and to meet him at the gates of the village. He got out of his house and ran as quickly as he could to John’s house to help him escape. He kept on knocking and banging on his front door until John’s mother opened the door. “Ma’am, I don't want to make this harder than it already is but I need you to tell me where John is!” She immediately understood and ran to John's room with Nepal right behind her, they did not have enough time to find the key, so Nepal ran and knocked down the door. John was surprised and confused but he knew that he had to leave. He did not have anything valuable to take with him, so he packed some of his clothes in a bag and nodded his head meaning he was ready to leave. He turned to his mother and said ‘“Mother I can not leave you here. It is too dangerous and you may be found guilty. So, please come with us.’ She smiled and in a flash they all were out the door, running to the gates of the village where they will escape to the East to discover all the wonders they were forbidden from knowing.

After their escape, they inhabited the castle and uncovered many wonders of a lost world. They were ready to share these treasures and open up a new place to the people. Something to realize is that everyone knows that their beliefs are a lie but it was fear that stopped them as for the priest it was the greed for adoration and money that stopped him. But they were ready to stop all of that and open up new beginnings as they are now the gods of the East.


End file.
